Connecting Supply and Demand: Attracting Talent to Lead Your Utility into the Future

With opportunities in the energy arena growing, competition for experienced energy efficiency or conservation staff is increasing. The good news for utility hiring managers is that at the same time, opportunities for future job candidates to be trained in the energy industry and job-seeker interest in utility careers are also growing exponentially.

One of the main drivers is the millions of Recovery Act and state and local dollars being invested to develop a clean energy workforce. How can you position your utility to attract this newly trained talent? How can you take advantage of this unprecedented opportunity to increase your existing staff's capabilities? What skill sets should you be seeking to respond to the challenges and opportunities ahead?

The Energy Center of Wisconsin has been conducting on-going analysis of workforce development, training and energy efficiency program developments and presented their findings and made the case that the time now to respond to the workforce capacity challenges facing utilities in a webinar, Tuesday April 27th - visit ECW to access the archived version of the webinar.

We caught up with presenter, Marge Anderson, about why public power utility hiring managers and energy efficiency program planners alike shouldn't miss this discussion.

Q: Why should this be top of mind for utilities now?
A: Utilities have an opportunity to benefit in the immediate future from the government and private industry emphasis on accelerating energy efficiency. Public power utilities have even more to gain than large IOU's because of their close-knit relationships with their communities. Energy efficiency - and building retrofits in particular - employs a 100% local workforce, and 92% of the products used in retrofits are made in the U.S.A. So while reducing demand, helping public power utilities manage their loads, and helping communities increase their energy independence, it can be a driving force for local economic development and jobs as well.

Q: Do you have an example of the lengths a utility went to find a qualified person?
A: I don't have an individual example, but there is a compelling report just out from Lawrence Berkeley Labs that we will reference in the webinar that demonstrates how few institutions of higher learning are focusing on the unique knowledge and competencies around efficiency program design and management. We do see an increasing trend of major consulting firms and utilities battling over experienced talent, and now community-led programs will be competing for this talent as they add sustainability directors and other positions to drive consumer demand for efficiency, sustainability and green.

Q: What other sectors are utilities competing with for new hires?
A: Utilities will compete with private consulting firms, government and municipal programs, and large commercial/industrial facilities for experienced energy engineers. Utilities should partner with local educational institutions to make sure the faculty and students in engineering programs understand the opportunities in energy management and energy efficiency. Utilities also need to pay attention to shortages of qualified workers among the trade ally community. These are the folks who utilities count on to install measures correctly so that savings goals are met. A shortage of them, or workers without the appropriate building science credentials and attention to energy use, will create lost opportunities for utilities.

Q: Should utilities build up their capabilities in-house versus (or in addition) to out-sourcing?
A: In my opinion, there's not one right or wrong answer about out-sourcing. Some utilities find it convenient to work with consulting firms and learn from their collective experience with other clients; others like to maintain consistency over time and customer continuity by keeping services and product-development in-house. However, public power utilities have unique opportunities to field their own retrofit or energy auditing capabilities because they can bring these services to scale in a targeted geographic area, while leveraging their strong community images. This can enhance both revenue and customer perceptions.

Listen to the webinar archive >>